JAP jitters rock the Jubilee Coalition

April 15, 2015 7:56 am

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TNA Chairman Johnson Sakaja indirectly ‘attacked’ JAP officials who have been holding meetings with URP and TNA members saying they were being malicious.

By Jane Goin, NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 14 – There is rising discontent by officials of the United Republican Party (URP) and the National Alliance (TNA) over the new outfit, the Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP) which unsuccessfully contested the Kajiado central by-election.

TNA Chairman Johnson Sakaja indirectly ‘attacked’ JAP officials who have been holding meetings with URP and TNA members saying they were being malicious.

“We want to tell all our officials from the grassroots to the top level and all our members that unless they receive official communication from TNA and URP they should treat all that as masqueraders or rumours,” said Sakaja.

Sakaja took issue with what he described as ‘people’ trying to look like they are the party’s spokespersons and calling members of TNA and URP to JAP meetings warning their members against attending such meetings.

“Whatever political movement is happening and that is going to happen within the coalition will happen in an orderly manner – the current confusion we are seeing in the country does not look like the way TNA and URP runs its affairs. We are telling our coordinators, our party officials and our members that they will hear from us on the orderly movement that is coming to us politically,” added Sakaja.

Accompanied by Secretary General Onyango Oloo and URP Secretary General Fred Muteti, Sakaja dismissed the notion that the Jubilee Alliance was crumbling saying the decision to move to JAP had not been fully made and until that was done the parties were independent and still active.

“JAP is a party and it is the intention of the leadership of Jubilee that by 2017 we are one party. TNA and URP are political parties and until the move happens, we continue to exist as individuals,” stressed Sakaja.

He said the Political Parties Act which guides the operations of the parties must be followed, such that the values and beliefs of the Jubilee Coalition and its constituent parties remained intact up until the merger was done.

The leaders took an indirect swipe at Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto for what he describes as trying to ‘herd’ people out of parties saying they would not allow this to happen.

Muteti accused Ruto of attempting to de-stabilize the Jubilee coalition by working with the opposition urging him to leave them in peace.

“We know that he wants to go to CORD. We are telling Isaac whom we know as a hater, he should not waste our time, and he should resign and seek a fresh mandate. Let him not lie that he is going to KANU,” stated Muteti.

Since the launch of the Jubilee Alliance Party, the leaders of TNA and URP have been sidelined with sources within the parties indicating reluctance by the constituent parties to join JAP which despite the much hyped publicity, has yet to rise to the occasion.

Most of the constituent parties have expressed reservations on joining the outfit over fear that they will lose their bargaining power with pundits insisting the party was formed to ‘tame’ the ambitions of individuals seen to grow ‘big heads’.

The leaders further dismissed reports that KANU was rising up and was set on taking over taking over the vote-rich rift valley region insisting that it was part of the Jubilee coalition.

The URP disciplinary committee will be meeting with errant MCAS this Thursday, the issue of Isaac Ruto is also expected to come up.

The leaders were speaking after receiving the report of the committee formed to probe the wrangles in the Nakuru County Assembly.

In the report, the TNA and URP working committee proposed that the Majority and Deputy minority leaders whose positions are the main cause of the conflict be re-elected.

Patrick Ngatia who chairs the committee said those found guilty of instigating and participating in the conflict should be punished, and for the case of Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri and County Speaker Susan Kihika who are embroiled in a dispute, the matter be resolved by the respective party leaders.

“There are those to be given a warning by the party, those to be given warnings by the Speaker as per the standing orders, those recommended to the disciplinary committee while those found to be dishonest should get warning letters from their parties,” said Ngatia.

The committee also urged the Jubilee Alliance to hold meetings with its representatives regularly to ensure any emerging issues are resolved before they escalate; sentiments reiterated by TNA Secretary General Onyango Oloo who said indiscipline must be brought to an end.

“We are not going to allow our parties ti be run in a helter skelter manner—we are warning those wishing to engage in conflict that indiscipline will not be tolerated,” stated Oloo.

URP Secretary General Fred Muteti lauded the committee’s prompt work pointing out that cases which would not be resolved internally would be handed over to the courts.